5 Tips to Improve Balance

Finding balance is an essential part of life, but highly underworked and underestimated by many. Without balance, your body wouldn’t be able to complete basic movements (walking, sitting and standing).

Kickboxing for me was an eye opener on how much balance is important. The more I worked on it the stronger I felt in other areas of my life and my workouts. I walked with more confidence and knew that my body wouldn’t fail me while performing some more complicated moves, hence avoiding injury.

So I’ve put together a list of five moves that will help you improves your balance and therefore feel stronger and more stable in our bodies.

1. Single-leg deadlift: You are going to be challenging your body by standing on one leg the whole time while moving your opposite leg. Stand on your left leg, take your right leg and hinge forward, extending your right leg back and bringing both arms in front of you in line with your ears. Come back to standing. To make it more challenging do not put your right foot on the ground when coming back to standing, or add a weight. Don’t forget to switch sides!

2. Side lunge to knee drive: This challenges your balance as you push off from a lunge into a balanced position. Start with your feet together. Come into a low side lunge. Now, push off and blame on your standing leg. Repeat. Again do not forget to do both sides!

3. Low & high side kicks: This one is inspired by kickboxing! Start by balancing on the left leg, with the right leg give a low kick, a high kick and then back to a low kick. Once you can do all three kicks quickly, with little rest and smoothly, then know that your balance has highly improved.

Do not forget to do both sides.

4. Plank reach: The core needs to be challenged to improve balance. Start by coming into a plank, hands are underneath your shoulders, feet can start wide to help with balance (but should get narrower with time). From here, lift opposite hands and feet up (e.g: lift right hand and left leg) and then switch. You will feel it in your core, but do not stop! Squeeze your butt and abdominal muscles to help you stabilise.

5. Squat to calf raise: This one is guaranteed to burn. It starts on flat feet and moves into a raised position. Stat with your feet hip-width apart. Come deep into a squat. From here extend and rise up onto your toes and then back down.